Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/300

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imposes its own name upon the town. Satisfied, however, with his future fame and prospers, and the grandeur of his growing tide, which ever and anon receives a tributary stream, the Thames glides peaceably and quietly on, regardless of the little local triumph of his rival. He knows he is to bear the wealth of nations on his bosom, and is not anxi- ous, therefore, to be godfather to a country village. His banks, notwithstandng, which well deserve the poet's epithet of " willow-fringed," are highly beautiful ; and the fertility of the meadows by their sides proves the bounty which his waves dispense. As we had now exhausted all the grand and picturesque of our tour, it remained for us to enjoy, as much as we could, the tamer features of scenery which presented themselves to us; and our minds, willing to make the most of what was before us, readily entered into the plan. Our eye therefore reposed with pleasure upon the rich north-eastern division of Wiltshire through which we were passing, so different to the naked downs of its mid- dle and southern divisions. We rambled with pensive delight in the well-wooded church-yard of Swindon, by the side of its Gothic house of God, md under the beam of a full-orbed moon ; pleased Vviih the reflection, that in England alone these improving and delightful ambulatories are found.

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